Is semantic search available offline?

Yes. The index and the search both run on your Mac, so search keeps working with no connection.

Can I still search by exact words?

Yes. Full-text search runs alongside semantic search and exact matches are ranked normally.

Does Shelf search inside images?

Yes. Text is read out of images with OCR when they are saved, so the words inside a screenshot are searchable.

Retrieval

Find things by what you remember.

You rarely remember a filename. You remember what something looked like, what it was about, and roughly when it turned up. Shelf searches your Mac the way you actually recall things.

Full-text and semantic search run side by side, on device, so a rough description is usually enough.

Download Shelf See how it works

Found it1 of 4 memories

Settings screen, dark appearance

Screenshot · saved 14 August

Meaning: “dark interface” matched a UI screenshot, not a filename
Words read: OCR found “Appearance · Dark” inside the image
Context: Saved while you were reading about interface design
When: 14 August · last summer

Also nearby

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The quiet end of light mode
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Reuses two phrases from that article
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Captured in the same session

An illustration of how Shelf reads a search on your Mac. Not a live search.

01 · The problem

You remember the thing. Not its name.

The thing you are looking for was saved months ago, in a hurry, with whatever name the system gave it.

Search asks for exact words. Memory does not work in exact words.

You remembera dark dashboard with a green chart
The file is calledScreenshot 2025-08-14 at 11.42.09.png
Keyword search findsnothing

02 · The old way

Folders assume you knew what you would need.

Filing is a bet on your future self. It only pays off when you guessed the right folder, on the day you saved it.

Most people lose that bet quietly, then re-find things by scrolling.

03 · Shelf

Describe it badly. That's fine.

Shelf reads what you save on your Mac, then indexes both the words and the meaning.

You can type the idea instead of the phrase, and results tell you when they matched by meaning rather than by text.

Full textExact words, titles, OCR text and document contents.

SemanticClose meaning, so “dark interface” can find “appearance: dark”.

TogetherBoth run at once and results are merged, not toggled.

On deviceThe index lives on your Mac and searching works offline.

04 · Memory

What Shelf has to search with.

What it says: OCR text from images, text inside PDFs and documents, titles and descriptions.
What it sounds like: Audio and video transcribed on device, where supported.
What it means: A local summary and topic for each thing you keep.
When: The moment it was saved and what you saved around it.
Where from: The website or app it was captured from.
What it connects to: Related memories, each with the reason for the link.

05 · Retrieval

Every result explains itself.

A search result is not a mystery ranking. Shelf shows why it surfaced: matched meaning, matched text, the moment it was saved, or a connection to something else you kept.

Found it1 of 4 memories

Settings screen, dark appearance

Screenshot · saved 14 August

Meaning: “dark interface” matched a UI screenshot, not a filename
Words read: OCR found “Appearance · Dark” inside the image
Context: Saved while you were reading about interface design
When: 14 August · last summer

Also nearby

Article
The quiet end of light mode
Read the same week
Note
Contrast notes for the settings screen
Reuses two phrases from that article
Screenshot
Sidebar spacing study
Captured in the same session

An illustration of how Shelf reads a search on your Mac. Not a live search.

06 · Privacy

Searching never leaves your Mac.

Indexing, OCR, transcription and search all run locally. There is no account and no sync server.

Image variations are the one optional feature that reaches the network, off by default and only with your own key.

Questions

Straight answers.

Is semantic search available offline?: Yes. The index and the search both run on your Mac, so search keeps working with no connection.
Can I still search by exact words?: Yes. Full-text search runs alongside semantic search and exact matches are ranked normally.
Does Shelf search inside images?: Yes. Text is read out of images with OCR when they are saved, so the words inside a screenshot are searchable.

Search the way you remember.

Keep something today. Describe it badly in six months. Shelf can still find it.

Download Shelf

Free. macOS 14 and later, Apple Silicon and Intel. No account.

Keep reading

Shelf V3 is out now

Shelf V3 is the current build. Shelf does not use automatic updates, so download the latest build here and install it over your current version.

This is intentional. Shelf is built around a local-first, privacy-focused philosophy. An automatic updater requires additional background processes, network connections, update infrastructure, and another system with permission to modify the app. We prefer to keep Shelf’s network footprint and background activity as small as possible.

Manual updates keep the process explicit: Shelf only checks the internet when a feature actually needs it, and you decide when a new version is downloaded and installed.

Download the latest version →Version 3.0 · macOS 14+